DUNEDIN, FLA.—In July of 2012, at the point the Jays began to utilize their farm system as inventory, trading the future for the present, the perception was that GM Alex Anthopoulos had stripped the minors of its talent, leaving the system in shambles.

The rebuilding has begun in earnest.

Judging from the Jays’ early camp for the Top 30 elite prospects, the talent has not disappeared. It has become younger. The urgency of winning right now in Toronto is still there, but based on what is unfolding at the Mattick Complex this week, there is renewed hope.

How young is the Jays’ latest crop of elite prospects? The Baseball America Prospect Handbook each year ranks each organization’s top 30 futures. This year’s edition shows 22 of the Jays’ 30 highest-rated prospects are born in 1992 or later — 22 years old or younger. That’s the highest total of young players of any organization, followed by the Reds with 21 and the Rangers with 19. Of the Jays’ 30, 19 are at this mini-camp and nine others were with the major-league club.

Mel Didier is currently a senior adviser to Anthopoulos. Now in his 80s, Didier was a key leader with the expansion Expos in 1969, author of the famous five-year plan to build Montreal through the farm system, overseeing the selection of future stars like Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Ellis Valentine, Steve Rogers, Balor Moore and Larry Parrish. He has been around the game since 1948 and he is extremely high on the Jays’ comeback in both the number and the quality of prospects.

“I definitely feel the depth of the organization can be back to where it was in the next year or two,” Didier said. “We saw the depletion, particularly pitching, of our young group that we had — low-A, high-A and so on. We really believe we are back closer than ever.

“With a good draft this year, we could really jump over the hoop. We could really be something sort of special — if we get the right kind of players. I think we can do it in a year, no more than two years, back to where we were with top-flight pitching prospects and all of that.”

The mini-camp concept started when Anthopoulos took over the reins as GM. It has become a carrot on the stick for the system’s top prospects. Among those invited this year are two Canadians listed among Baseball America’s Top 30, right-hander Tom Robson (Vancouver) and outfielder Dalton Pompey (Mississauga). Both are slated, perhaps, for 2014 full-season Class-A ball with a slew of other top prospects about three or four years of development away. They all appreciate the exposure.

“It’s awesome to be down here,” Robson said. “You can look around, the guys that are here, you’ve got (Justin) Jackson, D.J. Davis, (Matt) Smoral, (Daniel) Norris, a lot of those big-name guys that were drafted really high. So to be put in the same camp as those guys is kind of an honour. Especially for me, being from Vancouver, it’s obviously a big help because back at home right now, it’s pretty cold, so it helps me out to get ready for spring training.”

Robson had the unique experience of winning a 2013 league championship in his hometown of Vancouver and compared it to the feeling he had in tournaments with Greg Hamilton’s Junior National teams. The Class-A Canadians were a clearly different vibe than he had felt at other pro levels.

“We were all pulling for each other, we all wanted each other to do well and win,” Robson said. “In the minor leagues, it’s not hard for it to become an individualized game for some people because everybody’s fighting for a spot. In Vancouver, it was the first time I’ve experienced playing as a team. It really brought back memories from when I played for Team Canada, because that was the same boat.

“In Vancouver, we were the only minor-league team in Canada, but it was like we were all together and I’ve never felt that with any other minor-league team, so it was really cool.”

Meanwhile, Pompey — who Tim Raines calls “the real deal” — has been coming on strong as his strength and physical maturity have caught up to his raw abilities as a switch-hitting centre-fielder. Pompey won an outfield Gold Glove for all the minor leagues in 2013. He was never as highly scouted as a 17-year-old and was selected in the 16th round of the 2010 draft.

“I had the confidence,” Pompey said. “I didn’t start getting scouted till the last day in February of that same year, so they only saw three months of me playing and going against some of the other guys on the national team that were there, the position players, I felt like I belonged.

“Even when I got drafted late and that still didn’t bother me. I was just excited for the opportunity to be there and have that chance to come play pro. I knew once I got here and seeing the other guys, I wasn’t that far behind. Maybe more so on reps, but on skill I didn’t feel like they had anything that I didn’t have, especially guys that were first-rounders like D.J. and Dwight Smith.”

The Blue Jays have some long-term major-league contracts that are going to expire by 2015 at the latest. By that time, the club is anticipating that the next generation of farm system players, many of them in this camp, will have arrived at the needed maturity and skill level to be competitive.

The real-life snapshot that stands out from the overlap of minor-league camp with the majors came on the first day. The major-leaguers were warming on Bobby Mattick’s Field 2. Meanwhile, pressed against the outfield fence like one of the Knothole Gang kids was one of the top Jays prospects, fingers wrapped in the fence, silently staring and dreaming.

He never moved, but his mind was surely racing with personal dreams. It was what pro baseball springs are all about.

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